In this age of the eighth generation of gaming, you’d think that there would more original content available for the current generation of consoles, but we just seem to keep getting remakes. The Oddworld Inhabitants are using this latest remake effort as a gauge for interest in future sequels for their franchise. Good thing that this much needed renovation is a great product. But perhaps the developers think a little too highly of this title.

Oddworld: New and Tasty is a remake of the original Oddworld: Abe’s Odddsey. You play as an alien being working at a meat processing factory owned by Rupture Farms. One day while cleaning, he overhears their plan to try to bring in more revenue: selling the meat of his people. Of course he tries to escape and free his people. And that’s where the game begins. Like many puzzle platformers at the time of the original’s release, you have to get by security and traps using a combination of switches, levers, and pulleys to make it through the levels and free your fellow Modokon brethren. The movement for the game is pretty diverse. You can sneak, roll, walk, and run: And this has all been made smoother in execution and less awkward, although many movements like knowing where, when, and how to jump still need precise positioning. Otherwise you can look forward to dying a lot, and it will happen. The game is mainly a big exercise in trial and error. But it is satisfying once you finally clear a tough segment. To alleviate this, the game also has an improve checkpoint system, allowing for more checkpoints, and you can even quick-save and load literally anywhere. Just remember to hold in the touch pad button for a few seconds when loading rather than a few milliseconds, otherwise you will accidentally save instead.

Abe also gains special abilities throughout the game, like being able to use a shockwave to blow up mines, or chanting to possess one of the security guards from which he can kill the other guards. Once you find secret portals, you can make a bid at figuring out the room’s puzzle to rescue your brethren. This involves making use of the command buttons and the foreground’s switches. The game looks and sounds much better than the original, and breathes new life into the game’s landscapes in a way that just wasn’t possible back in 1997. The game is fairly short though, lasting only about 5 hours, give or take a few based on how long it takes to clear the puzzles. Also, there are 300 Modokons over the originals 100. It’s kind of a shame though, as the game’s asking price is $30, and it doesn’t even include Abe’s Exodus, the sequel to the game. It might have made sense on the Playstation formats with Cross-buy/Cross Save functionality, but the other version’s aren’t available, and they wouldn’t benefit similarly on other platforms save the One and 360. Unless you think $30 is worth it, I’d wait a bit for a possible sale. Otherwise it’s a nice and fun little puzzle game.

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